It was in the third hour after midnight. Robert, sleepless in the darkness, heard the small tapping noise that he had been expecting. He padded soundlessly to the door and opened it, recognized the dim shape of Lazarus.
They had grown accustomed to talking and planning in the darkness. Robert closed the door and they sat side by side on the bed. They talked in low tones.
“Any more questions yesterday?” Lazarus asked.
“Three technicians. I had two of them returned to Sleep. The third has no replacement. I cannot send him to Sleep. That is why I was hoping you would come here tonight. In spite of my authority, this grows far too dangerous. I do not know why I permitted it to start. Why I helped you.”
“It’s gone too far to back out now,” Lazarus said. Robert felt the sudden quiver of the bed and knew that Lazarus had shuddered. Lazarus said, “I didn’t tell you about the old ones. There were seven of them left. Very old ones. They couldn’t have been awakened. And the central feeding tube had to be disconnected when I pulled the main switch on the light panel. I dream of them. There was nothing else to do. I put them, still alive, on the conveyor to the furnaces... Has Statistical Control noticed that there has been no call from either building for the last two months?”
“No. I don’t see why it would be noticed. Often it is not necessary to go near a building for years.”
Lazarus nodded. “And both buildings were mostly young ones. Except for the seven I told you about.”
“That could not be helped,” Robert said gently.
“Has there been any question about the carts?” Lazarus asked.
“No. The carts were taken from stores. As you know, there used to be many thousand more Workers. There are thousand of carts that will never be used again. Nobody questioned my order to move them near the buildings where you have been — working. Are they suitable?”
“They are simple to operate. We will use them only for supplies. Blankets. Food. Extra clothing. I have ten men who can drive now. I have trained them inside the buildings.”
“You must leave soon. There is unrest among the Workers. They have heard things they do not understand, Lazarus.”
“That is why I came tonight. We leave at dawn.”
“But there is another week before—”
“Before you return to Sleep? It is time that we go. We can do nothing more here, and the longer we wait the greater the danger.”
“Tonight is... the last night. You never told me about... Eve. About awakening her.”
Lazarus was silent for so long that Robert began to think that he would not answer at all.
“Eve was the first one. As you suggested, I cut the master switch and I had to stop the main feeding tube. As you know, they can live for ten days once the feeding tube is cut off. First I had to dispose of the old ones.
“After that, I went to Eve’s niche and turned off the coils so that the temperature would climb within the niche. Gently I disengaged the tubes and took the plates from her head. I set the portable lights around her niche. She was in the third tier so that, by standing, my head was on a level with hers.
“The cold marble pallor began to fade after a half hour and her pulse had climbed to twenty beats a minute. I rubbed her wrists to increase circulation. Slowly the pulse rate climbed and at last, in the neighborhood of seventy beats a minute, when the niche temperature had climbed to sixty degrees, her eyes opened suddenly.
“I called the name I had given her and she turned her face in the direction of the sound. Her eyes were blank and her face twisted with shock. She made small mewling sounds and I lifted her in my arms and tried to stand her up. She was, of course, both weak and untrained. She could not stand. She was shivering violently.
“I placed her on the floor and managed to get a Worker’s uniform on her. It was too big and she could give me no help. She made aimless motions with her hands and continued the small crying noises. At last, when she was warm, she stopped crying. She looked at me and her lips curled in a smile, though her eyes were as blank as the eyes of an infant fresh from the Birth Station. Her mind is quick, and her body is strong. She can stand now, and walk fairly well. She is beginning to say words. Of course, the training is much slower than Psychofix, but she is learning. I taught her a word I learned out of one of the old books. Love. She does not know what it means. But I like to hear her say it.”
The two men were silent. Robert said, “It is four now. At five-thirty I will put our plan into effect. Over the speakers I will ask all Workers to gather in the wide place in front of the Birth Stations. At quarter to six, in the opposite end of the Area, you will lead your little group out of the Area. No one will see you go.”
“We will move slowly. They will tire quickly.”
“I will keep the Workers gathered on some pretext for a sufficient time.” Robert sighed. “I would have liked to have seen them, Lazarus. Just once.”
Lazarus grasped Robert’s wrist tightly. “Then come with me now! It is dark. We can avoid the Workers on duty at this hour. Come with me and see them before we go. You will like what you see.”
Robert hesitated, then gave in. “Quickly, then!” he said, reaching for his uniform on the rack near his bed.
The cart was built for one. Lazarus sat on the saddle and turned the hand-grip which released the surge of power. The Area was blanketed with an electrical field from which the carts and all mechanical equipment drew what power they needed.
“Hang on!” Lazarus said. Robert, crouched on top of the wide box which had once held the spare tubing and devices used by Trouble Squad members, — tightened his grip on the leading edge.
The plastic wheels whined on the vitrified alleyways between the buildings and the cool wind of night stung Robert’s eyes.
The dim beacon on the top of each of the two buildings was out, indicating that those particular Halls of Sleep were empty. Robert knew otherwise.
Lazarus parked in the shadows and Robert climbed stiffly down to walk beside him to the wide doorway. Lazarus waited in the darkness until he was certain that no member of a Trouble Squad was in the neighborhood. Then he opened the door quickly and the two of them edged through the bright shaft of light into the building.
Eleven carts were loaded high with supplies and lined up facing the doorway. Young men and women babbled excitedly and crowded around, then grew shy and silent when they saw the stranger. They all wore discarded Workers’ uniforms that had been patched and altered.
Robert looked curiously at the women. Never before had he seen women who were not in Sleep.
At first glance the men looked like any young Workers. And then he saw the difference. These young men had alert, vital expressions. The faces of Workers expressed apathy and stolid determination. Robert looked into their eyes and was reminded of the glow he had first seen in the eyes of Lazarus.
The young people were awkward. They laughed a great deal. They used the simplest words and phrases.
Losing their shyness, they began to giggle and talk. One young woman stood sucking on her fingers, staring at Robert. He smiled at her and she ducked her head shyly and turned away.
“This is the way children used to act. Back in the days when there were children,” Lazarus said. “It is easy to love them.”
Robert glanced at his watch. “I am glad that I have seen them. I will think of them before I return to Sleep. Maybe I will dream of them. I know that this is something I should not have done, and yet I am proud of it.”